Crisis communication is not intended to answer all questions or fill all needs it is just a basic outline of options you might consider if and when you are in the midst of a crisis and need help.

Crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of your company or NGO, usually brought on by adverse or negative media attention. These situations can be any kind of legal dispute, and misrepresentations that could be attributed to your company. It can also be a situation where in the eyes of the media or general public your company did not react to one of the above situations in the appropriate manner. This definition is not all encompassing but rather is designed to give you an idea for the types of situations where you may need to follow a plan.

For purposes of this post the omission of same gender loving women in large part is not intentional or meant to exclude them but as there are hardly any documented records of such instances but more so on the side of MSM in my archives, men who have sex with men in the broader context. Exploitative same sex relational matters do often result in some injury from an unconfirmed standpoint when the grapevine system gets wind of them but when jealousy is the reason those conflicts tend not to often lead to a murder, it seems that there has been a preoccupation with more powerful or middle class victims whose cases are used to legitimize homophobia as if only such persons suffer same. A discussion of sorts has carried on in response to a Gleaner letter some days ago where the writer implored LGBT persons to report incidents to predominantly JFLAG while trying to differentiate intimate partner violence from genuine homophobic cases.

There is more than enough evidence to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt homophobia in Jamaica

One of the more unnoticed effects of living in a heteronormative society is the lack of information on, and services for, victims and perpetrators of violence in gay relationships.

This issue is almost as taboo in the (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) LGBT community as homosexuality is in the wider society. There are already so many negative stigmas attached to gay couples that no one wants to publicly voice that there are instances of violence in many gay relationships.

In the same way that men and women abuse each other in heterosexual relationships, they abuse each other in gay relationships, too. Such violence has come to be known as intimate partner violence (IPV) and is defined as physical, sexual or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse.

Due to the nature of gay relationships, especially in Jamaica, many victims and perpetrators of such violence are reluctant to seek help or report incidents of violence in their relationships to the police. IPV can have devastating effects on LGBT people who are already prone to other types of violence at the hands of homophobic people, especially in conservative societies. Many are also reluctant to speak out about it because of the lack of shelters for victims, the general negative sentiment towards gay people, and for some, the fear of being ‘outed’ as gay.

counselling

While this fear is understandable, it is important that victims report incidents of violence, and that perpetrators seek help through counselling to reduce and eliminate IPV. I am encouraging all LGBT people to report all incidents of violence, whether as a result of bullying or IPV, to the police as well as to Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG). And I want to use this opportunity to reiterate that J-FLAG does not condone any type of violence against any person regardless of their sexual identity.

The LGBT community and allies need to be a support system for those in need – both victims and perpetrators – and encourage people to speak out against all types of violence, both in and out of relationships.

P. ANDREW, pgjen_13@hotmail.com, St James

Sadly it seems as implied in this letter a fall in reporting from persons affected by homophobic violence or is JFLAG now finally trying to get its act together when it comes to proper data collection and archiving with evidence of same. I have been openly critical of the incident reporting mechanism they had when I went there as Admin Finance Officer doubling as Crisis Intervention and the poor record keeping of files and incomplete reports of some serious incidents at times, I had to do some major overhauling of the forms and files at the time, examples include persons with injuries yet no photos, police station reports (even rejected visits or cop service number and times) or supporting pictures or documents such as receipts from clinics or prescriptions for injury treatment or dressing and drugs added to the file to make it substantive, the follow up visits that the form calls for at the end before the file is closed or handed over to the relevant person is often blank for many cases. This poor recording keeping or data collection has had and seems to continue to have a serious dent on the all important crisis communication when it comes to public advocacy.

Crisis communication is such as important piece for Jamaica LGBTQ advocacy and more details of cases (barring names or use of pseudonyms) must be brought forward. Nearly 80% of the clients I interviewed who came into the JFLAG office to file reports the session(s) were recorded on audio, unfortunately those were lost as my successor I gathered did not monitor the files and the systems crashed with the files lost forever, so much for simple good administration.

The cynicism and disbelief from anti gay groups, religious fanatics and even legislators is clear over the years with support from media, public commentators and even the police high command dismissing prominent cases as lovers’ quarrels and these major cases are used to justify dismissing any others that have a homosexual involved while not taking into account every case on its own merit. The deceptive use of non homophobic cases by some LGBT lobbyists over the life of the struggle has not helped any either as it only seeks to reinforce the resolve by anti gay voices as we are viewed as liars when such public agitation takes place. Uncompleted court cases for example that of the John Terry matter from 2009 though the stalling at the preliminary hearing level has already revealed some familiarity with the accused and the deceased despite a note was left suggesting death for homosexuals, alleged used condoms were also said to have been found in the home, whether they have evidence of the persons therein is still unclear. The Dean Moriah matter as well sadly who was murdered earlier this year yet long before the investigations were completed some overseas based advocates rushed to judgement and paraded the matter as a homophobic incident even as the trial creeps in our court system, by the time the police high command responded the blanket dismissal of homophobic killings was the subtext of the response hence implying dishonesty by LGBT advocates and a feeling that Jamaica has been falsely labelled as homophobic.

The mistrust of local advocates I fear still seems to exist in some 7 reports I have received by phone, social media and through other groups when persons are asked to engage JFLAG for example persons simply refuse and even go as far as to label the group as classist and not interested in assisting certain types of persons or feeling that their matter won’t be dealt with as they think it should. This mistrust challenge has been a concern from long before my time at the entity as while there I had a serious task gaining the trust of persons to release their inhibitions and make their reports, this leads to gross under-reporting. This is where our same gender loving sisters come in where there is a feeling that JFLAG is only for males and hence many women who are the subject of abuse, violence (corrective rape) and increasing forced evictions do not come forward.

Exploitative same sex relations as hinted above are also of significant import as men who do not identify as “gay” in the Jamaican context as “bad man” feel threatened in some way as the description (fear of feminization of any sort) for some and power differentials that obtain in this unions of sorts played out in violence for purposes of control. A constant in most of the cases over the years is the class issues right before us, there is usually a middle to high income or relatively comfortable gay man who ends up being the deceased versus a hyper-masculine type from the lower socio economic classes who often do not take any personal items of the victim after the fact and sometimes ends up using the gay panic defence strategy to suggest some sort of implied sodomatical attack to justify the self defence response to kill the person. These same hyper-masculine types have a real fear of exposure in their own class or community so the relations with other more powerful or resourced men is crucial which is also pegged on the belief gay men are more resourced and will pay for such sexual relations.

There maybe is some truth to that as to maintain stealth/secrecy some exchange may occur but the misogynistic view pegged to masculinity by Jamaican standards men do not want to feel subservient to another or in a weakened position so when something changes in that union riddled with a constant power struggle (the so called monied or resourced gay man controlling the union or sex versus the masculine prowess of the hyper-masculine brother maintaining his ground) leads to some violence as the lower resourced man responds the way he knows how that is violence as we are well taught in Jamaica so to do. Any form of disrespect is often met with a violent reaction and seeing that gay men aren’t seen as real men by general social standards the aggressor feels justified in carrying out the attack even using homophobic slurs in doing so despite the intimate familiarity between the parties. These types of cases have factored in the public domain more so than others especially owing to the fact that the victims are prominent citizens or foreigners such as UK Consul John Terry or local Ambassador Peter King, Julius Nelson (son of oppositions spokesman on National Security Dwight Nelson),

Philanthropist, community legend and party promoter Michael Melbourne victim of a trick by a hyper-masculine type

Micheal Melbourne (community influential) murdered at his apartment on Worthington Avenue or Brian Williamson whose killer “Wingee” was a part of the MSM population who also died in his own apartment. The Brian Williamson case though the motive turned out not to be a homophobic one directly the response from the public is where the evidence is strong of the homo-negative feelings that run in the Jamaican psyche, persons literally rejoiced the morning outside the building as the undertakers and police cordoned off the area to collect the body and process the crime scene. Most of those cases above have remained in the public domain for so long while not having direct homophobic causations that they inform how members of the public judge new cases as non homophobic matters.

Transgender murder victim “Gully Queen” whose case was labelled as a homophobic case …. misdirected homophobia towards a gender non-conformist should be the correct sub-text in describing this one I suggest

The Dwayne Jones murder mistmatch in its reporting has not helped either as (s)he was a transwoman but mistakenly took for a gay man crossed dressed in a public space with a deceptive motive to trick straight males at an outdoor entertainment event in a rural district. Some activists said he was gay and used that to justify the public advocacy while others said the correct gender identity which confused some folks so some Jamaicans and public commentators simply dismissed the whole as a another gay deception with a satisfactory outcome believe or not. The outrage that was to have been displayed was not evident except by sections of the LGBT populations. A recent television special one year since the murder shows up the carelessness frankly of Gully Queen herself and friends that faithful night but who is going to say it openly? that in a sense she gave her own life away in a sense as they clearly thought they understood how to “pass” in public which clearly they didn’t. See that documentary HERE …….. Host Dionne Jackson Miller takes a look at the issues of the murder of Dwayne Jones aka Gully Queen one year ago and some other related issues to do with homelessness, displacements and forced evictions of LGBT youths with guests, issues to do with passing in public, honesty & integrity about one’s real gender scream for attention in this presentation which warrants better programs from LGBTQ advocacies & interventions specific to transgender individuals navigating public life in Jamaica as misdirected homophobic violence can lead to more incidents such as the tragic murder of Gully Queen,

Other genuine cases also having persons of lesser ilk have not been put to good use to prove the active homophobia in Jamaica when it occurs in more meaningful ways, the cross dresser beating in Trelawny have been overplayed that it has no impact anymore in a sense, the JFLAG listing of cases it did some years ago only show numbers, no outcomes in terms of which were solved. There are several other cases that can be made to help the public to differentiate genuine crimes with a homophobic motive versus crimes of passion as the others are called by detractors. Cases such as the Manchester mobbing in January 2008 comes to mind complete with photos I took of the victim when I took the report, the lesbian picketing matter in St Catherine some years ago also has photos, the stabbing incident of a transman in Half Way Tree in full view of persons is also another with strong evidence. He now resides in Canada.

Now deceased man who was chopped in Trelawney in November 2002 and featured in the Human Rights Watch Report “Hated To Death” 2004

There are several points reports can be made:

The Police in some instances do take reports the problem is there are still old feelings of hate and stereotyping in the force that needs removing.

GLBTQ Jamaica of which this blog is apart continues to receive, engage persons and make referrals to those who make reports or know of incidents for the past 7 years via yours truly, Tel: 1-876-813-4942

I still recommend JFLAG despite their issues.

Quality Citizenship Jamaica, QCJ which is a lesbian, bisexual women entity more so for advocacy but they do some crisis intervention.

NEW YORK – On the 52nd anniversary of Jamaica’s independence from the United Kingdom, human rights activists renew their calls for the repeal of that country’s buggery law, which effectively criminalizes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) life. Violation of the colonial-era law carries a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment with hard labor. However, the consequences reverberate throughout Jamaican society, helping to fuel widespread anti-LGBT violence.

The U.S. Department of State, the Organization of American States, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Amnesty International have condemned the history of violence and discrimination against LGBT individuals in Jamaica and called for repeal of the buggery law.

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller has failed to act to repeal the law despite indications during her 2011 campaign that she would work with the LGBT community. Since then, activists have filed two suits against the law.

In June, thousands of Jamaicans rallied in support of keeping the law and against the “homosexual agenda” after the government had been reportedly discussing the possibility of repeal. Few voices openly favoring repeal have been heard within Jamaica.

Several activists at today’s protest have either been forced to flee to Jamaica or have family and friends under threat there. Dwayne Brown, founder of Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand, said, “From the safety of our adopted sanctuary countries, we demand an end to the grave injustices perpetrated against our LGBT brothers and sisters. Every day, they must fight for their lives.”

“Jamaica’s ‘Emancipendence’ celebration is an appropriate time to reflect on the realization of the dream of inclusion captured in our motto ‘Out of Many One People,’” stated Maurice Tomlinson, a prominent human rights lawyer forced to flee Jamaica. “We are standing today, as Jamaicans in the Diaspora along with our allies, to affirm that ALL Jamaicans are citizens and deserve the full rights of our citizenship.”

Jason Latty, President of the Caribbean Alliance for Equality, said, “It is imperative for the survival and vitality of the Jamaican people that we move swiftly to repeal the buggery law. My organization is outraged about the increasing acts of terror directed against LGBT Jamaicans. A nation that does not respect the life and dignity of its people is a nation on the decline.”

Edwin Sesange, Director of the Out and Proud Diamond Group, stated, “This is the time for Jamaica to practice love for all. The buggery law should be scrapped immediately before more lives are lost. The government of Jamaica and its citizens should work towards achieving equality and justice for all its citizens, including LGBTI people.”

“In Jamaica, people masquerading under the guise of ‘religious’ leaders have carried the banner for hatred and violence directed against LGBTI people,” said Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Senior Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of New York and Executive Director of the Global Justice Institute. “Ending the buggery law will help Jamaica celebrate the diversity of God’s creation and honor the value, dignity, and worth of all life.”

“We plan to hold internationally coordinated protests every Independence Day until all Jamaicans can be considered free at last,” concluded Dwayne Brown.

Protests were also held in London- attended by Edwin Sesange, Director of the Out and Proud Diamond Group.

ENDS

Question is are some of the cases being put forward as homophobic actually are?

Crisis communication is so important but one had to wonder what is the use of such protest when we are not sure if the politicians are being reached in private deliberations with some effect as I am sure the folks on the other sides are also using diplomatic pressure to bear as well.

This protest also seems to be going against the JFLAG turn on the call for a full repeal instead to a more sensible middle road of decriminalization seeing that rape is not covered under the present structure. But as usual the late in the day turn by the goodly J has gone unheard in the noise following the June 29th antigay protests by religious groups.

The narrative for antigay groups such as the recently formed Jamaica CAUSE and Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship or Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society is a full repeal and that is what they are campaigning on via public advocacy, so what are Maurice Tomlinson et al saying to the world that we want to continue a fight unclear as to what we actually want or is this another image suring tactic disguised as protest for rights? We need to be credible in these things and stop the fiddling around.

The aims of the struggle has to be specific and not one group saying one thing or going in one direction while others are on a frolic of their own. As for the quoted sections by the author the buggery law does not in effect criminalizes LGBT life as she puts it but an act as carried out by some gay, bisexual and even heterosexual persons, this vagueness as well in the public advocacy and foreign support though welcomed sometimes just seek to could the thrust and plant all other kinds of ideas in the minds of the public including anti gay voices.

Ever since Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller intimated her intention to review the buggery law, the discussion has increased on the buggery law, in particular, and homosexuality in general. It is both a philosophical and theological debate that if not managed or moderated properly, runs the risk of leaving many casualties behind.

I am reminded quite recently reading Neville Callam’s book, Deciding Responsibly: Moral Dimension of Human Action, about the great moral debate concerning the proposal for unwed teachers to be given maternity leave with pay in the 1970s. A very large section of the Church and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association issued press releases denouncing the Government’s proposal.

Callam observed that it was a few church leaders who met with the Government and brokered a cessation of hostility, and the rest is history.

Historically, crusaders are never winners. Winners stand on the bedrock of love mediated through God’s grace, a grace that none of us can truly fully comprehend or articulate.

Veteran journalist Ian Boyne, last year in an article, appropriately laid down the gauntlet for the debate to continue. Says he, “In my view, Christians have to separate the political from the philosophical. I don’t believe the Christian – or Muslim – majority should impose their will on minorities.”

Our legal framework, including our Constitution, is grounded in the Judaeo-Christian philosophy. What this means in fundamental terms is that biblical thoughts have influenced the way laws are shaped and behaviour normalised in much of the former British Empire. If one agrees with this view, it must also be agreed that this was the basic assumption for much of the Western civilisation.

Society has evolved from this core principle of the Judaeo-Christian ethic of ‘being’ and in ‘relationship with the other’ and has been moving towards a rights-based approach to being in the world and in relationship with each. This Judaeo-Christian biblical philosophy approach gave legitimisation to slavery, the apartheid system, and many other atrocities for which the Church has repented.

Religious assumptions

Even in declaring this fact, it is not to be assumed that such an approach will, of necessity, be flawed, but rather to recognise that even in our search for wholeness and truth, sometimes we are passionately off target and blinded by our own fury, interpretation and belief.

There are some fundamental principles within Western society that we take for granted – and some of these are normal, acceptable behaviour or conduct – however, in some societies, these are socially and legally unacceptable. The reasons, for the most part, are grounded in a set of religious assumptions that are not acceptable within the Judaeo-Christian philosophical and theological thought. As Westerners, we readily detest the Shari’a laws for very good reasons.

Western societies have to wrestle with secularism and changes in laws globally that do not necessarily reflect our traditionally Judaeo-Christian assumptions. This sweeping modernism – others would say secularism – has caused a tsunami of panic not only in the Caribbean, but in the developed, industrialised nations.

The liberalisation of laws on homosexuality within those societies did not happen overnight, but has been a long struggle and deep debate between the traditional Judaeo-Christian ideas and values within the context of growing secularism, in general, and the issues of human rights, in particular.

There are, therefore, some fundamental questions that must be placed within the debate, the push-back and the tension between the fundamentalist Judaeo-Christian philosophical thoughts, and the human rights approach to issues.

1. Can we say that we love each other unconditionally?

2. Do we really know enough about each other to the extent that we see others as equally loved and valued by God?

3. Should the homosexual act be an offence under the law?

There is no easy way out or Bible-thumping of views to these simple but profound questions. At the end of the debate, we must decide whether a society is going to be governed by laws that are universally consistent and respectful of its people (the common-good approach to moral decision making); or whether the decision will be taken to provide the greatest good to the majority (the utilitarian approach); or whether the decision will be based on the rights to privacy by consenting adults (the rights approach to ethical decision-making); or whether the focus will be on what kind of persons we want to develop and what kind of community we want to create (the virtue approach); or whether we will decide on the justice approach, which seeks to gauge the fairness of an action, not only for the majority, but for the minority.

All of these approaches to ethical decision-making must be brought into the debate because in a secular society, the views of the faith community and its interpretation of the text are important but not exclusive.

Says Desmond Tutu in his book God is not a Christian: “I am proud that in South Africa, when we won the chance to build our own new constitution, the human rights of all have been explicitly enshrined in our laws. My hope is that one day this will be the case all over the world, and that all will have equal rights. For me, this struggle is a seamless robe. Opposing apartheid was a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination against women is a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a matter of justice.”

Gospel of justice

The issue of homosexuality raises the emotional temperature and causes even the unbeliever to resort to the Bible. People like Tutu recognised such reality and preach a gospel of justice and unconditional regard for all those who are oppressed within our midst.

My views and beliefs as a Christian must contend with those who do not share my views or my faith. At the end of the day, the Christian cannot seek refuge or protection in state legislation. And yet, the Christian, as well as the non-Christian or those who are Christians but disagree with a particular church position, has all rights to free expression and public demonstration. This right behoves each side to be reasonable and moderate in its utterances.

The Church will only win followers by and through its unconditional love of the ‘other’ and the witness of God’s redeeming grace. It doesn’t have to ‘accept’, but it must tolerate and recognise the complexity of the society and acknowledge how much is not yet known.

In this period when the temperature rises, let us find common ground for sober reflection that will engender an atmosphere of mutual respect, care and consideration for each other as we debate and express our views. In the end, we are all Jamaicans entitled to the protection of the law and all should be free to self-determine, to accept or reject, but still love without condition.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Jamaica; buggery is. But buggery is an act that occurs not only between males, but between females and males. However, when you listen to the discussion, the greater concern is the men who have sex with men (MSM). I think that Parliament should take another look at this dated act in light of other issues pertaining to the Offences against the Person Act.

The Rev Dr Paul Gardner is president of the Moravian Church, former president of the Moravian Church Worldwide, and former president of the Jamaica Council of Churches. He also chairs the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and pgardner@cwjamaica.com.

Secularism, Humanism and Atheism have also helped to cloud the local LGBT debate as I warned about in 2012/3; go HERE

Talk about conflict of interest, shaky integrity and selective morals as Reverend Al Miller has no moral authority to speak to any issue of right or wrong and interestingly homosexuality at that in my view at this time as his own actions that were in heard in court regarding the aiding of a fugitive in Christopher “Dudus” Coke after the authorities moved in on his so called empire in West Kingston in 2010 and he went into hiding only to be caught in the company of the said Reverend Miller in his car using a method of expression and entertainment for drag effeminate culture and transgender women in terms of cross dressing. He has even gone as far as to rebuff comments of his continued role at Fellowship Tabernacle Church which he pastors in the aftermath where he claimed he would have done the deception of bypassing local police again in assisting Coke. See MORE HERE on that

Coke was dressed in a wig, glasses, light makeup and a dress with reported high heels shoes as the photographs that circulated after the entrapment made clear much to the amusement of the public from some time after and the questions began to fly as to the reasons why a pastor would aid this method of obvious perpetrated deception and in such a public fashion. It seems there are too many conflicts of interest on all sides here now engaged in a shouting match or drawn daggers over the Professor Brendan Bain sacking by the University of the West Indies from a project they managed called CHART as part of the HIV prevention strategy for CARICOM/PANCAP Pan Caribbean AIDS Partnership after the professor gave “expert” testimony in a case involving a gay man in Belize challenging the Buggery legislation there some two years ago.

Previously one of the Jamaican LGBT activist based in New York who has led protests in that state of the US has come into some fire as his delinquency in servicing a student loan prior to his departure was made public as his name and photo appeared in a full page ad of delinquent borrowers earlier this month which has made him a target on sections of social media for ridicule and mistrust and discredit as persons commented that he has no authority to speak or demand rights as his own lack of civil and personal responsibility is tainted thus disqualifying him for demand for any correctness. See more HERE

How is it on one hand Reverend Miller opposes most publicly the so called ills of the land as he describes them on his Word Power show on television while having two most public charges dogging him? His short absence from the aforementioned show and subsequent return may make some persons feel he is cleared but those who have been paying attention and are cognisant of ethical principles are not fooled by this public relations faux pas and why has the other so called “Purity” groups such as the LCF (headed previously by Shirley Richards) and the JCHS (headed by Dr Wayne West) have not called him out or disassociated themselves from him until he is in the clear? Coke was wearing a wig at the time of the nabbing as the Reverend was said to be helping Coke to get passed the local security to a foreign power that being the United States Embassy in a bid to escape the supposed shoot first ask question mentality of the local police used an excuse when confronted, the other matter that has baffled me to this day is the missing gun case where it was reported the Reverend left his firearm in his vehicles and went to pick some mangoes and upon his return his gun just went missing after which it was reported to the authorities and he was charged for not properly securing his weapon and has been in and out of court since.

These two major infractions apart from his outlandish calls that homosexuality is abnormal, reparative therapy is a cure and the Buggery Law must remain on the books makes him unfit to speak until he has cleared his name especially of the Coke matter as to why was he helping a fugitive to escape the law of the land yet it is the same principle of obeying or keeping the laws of the land of which he professes to speak and seek attention to himself. He has been at this struggle at the very stage from the parliamentary submission in 1998 by JFLAG (when they meant something) when he appeared with the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowhip’s Shirley Richards, the Charter of Rights Debate during it on again off again twenty plus years run before passage in 2009/10, abortion debates in and out of the houses of parliament and professes to use psychological references in addressing homosexuality with some authority without referencing any expert referral, study or position paper to do so. I find that ethics, integrity and indeed moral responsibility are dying forms of evidence to back credibility in public advocacy and here we have so much more evidence of those missing pieces which leaves me to wonder if we can use the same moral nihilism criticism levelled at the LGBT lobby overall by anti gay activist Dr Wayne West of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS.

Reverend Miller must recluse himself from any outrage as it were until his name and reputation are cleared just as how these church folk make demands of conflicted politicians and public persons when they err and rightfully so.

I find hypocrisy and a feeling that persons are not tracking these valuable tenets for public life or advocacy so persons depend on the nine day wonder mentality we tend to have on matters on interest in the news constant recurrences. The same declining values in a sense as complained about by the church seems to have also affected the very loudest voices of the same group, we saw said hypocrisy play out with the call for tolerance by the former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson days go in light of the Bain matter I find that politicians tend to be so clear on values when outside of state power as also evidenced in Bruce Golding labour day opinion piece in the Gleaner fear mongering on gay marriage which he invented as a reason to deny rights in the Charter of Rights debate in 2009/10 to which the present PM sided with him as a matter of convenience and or pandering to religious groups as oppositions seem to always do, only weeks ago the JLP called for a referendum on buggery echoing a call from side protesting religious groups. Where was PJ Patterson when he was PM over the 16 of the 18 year run the PNP had in power when his own sexuality was brought under scrutiny and he demanded they stop as he was not gay.

In conclusion Reverend Al Miller is conflicted and cannot be seen as a credible voice in opposition to any moral matter until he clears his name likewise any LGBT activists also who are or seem tainted. The Jamaica Council of Churches, JCC stance in part is as follows “The church affirms its pastoral role and so appeals to the church as well as the wider religious community not to speak or act in ways that ostracise or incite violence or any other treatment of indignity towards persons who are homosexual as they too bearers of the image of God and for whom Christ died”

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Sadly on May 13 sister Rowena who spoke openly of her struggles with breast cancer passed in a medical institution after a brief struggle with treatment via chemotherapy, you may remember or have seen the post on this blog on her courses and the photos she provided while raising the awareness of breast cancer in the lesbian community.

In June 2011 she had granted permission for the photos and her story to be carried exclusive on GLBTQ Jamaica, here is an excerpt:

(WARNING – some photos contained may be unsettling)

On the evening of October 19, 2011 at the Couture Oasis’s Open Mic Open Soul Wednesday night discussions series we were asked to invoke the presence of a Jamaican same gender loving breast cancer survivor who from the moment she opened her presentation had all wondering if she was really going through this struggle and complications with this awful disease. The picture of doom and gloom mixed with uncertainty and doubt as often marketed with cancer victims of all sorts was clearly missing from this vibrant soul. Her resilience had audience members in awe and deep appreciation and other stories from the transfixed persons came flying out as well at some points leaving many in the small air conditioned room teary eyed.

Breast after the surgery

“Judy” as I shall call her for purposes of this post is in her late twenties or early thirties from as early as 2010 said she started to notice strange things happening with her right breast and especially at or around the nipple. There were leakages at some points with what appeared to be water and blood as the residue from it and this she thought was maybe she had scratched her nipple area. After seeing this for some time she decided to have a check up done but doing the tests including a mammogram nothing was found , she had repeated tests over time but still there was neither any lumps or any blots on her X-Ray results to indicate there was trouble or via self examination the few times she attempted them. It was not until a new doctor she consulted went further than just the breast itself and focused also by her underarm to her lymph-nodes and realised that her nodes had overgrown onto her breast tissue, it was then she was finally diagnosed on November 26, 2010 after repeated calls from the doctor’s office up to her due checkup date that she had Breast carcinoma, For solid tumors, stages I-IV are actually defined in terms of a more detailed staging system called the “TNM” system.

N classifies the amount of regional lymph node involvement. It is important to understand that only the lymph nodes draining the area of the primary tumor are considered in this classification. Involvement of distant lymph nodes is considered to be metastatic disease. The definition of just which lymph nodes are regional depends on the type of cancer. N0 means no lymph node involvement while N4 means extensive involvement. In general more extensive involvement means some combination of more nodes involved, greater enlargement of the involved nodes, and more distant (But still regional) node involvement. M: Metastasis M is either M0 if there are no metastases or M1 if there are metastases.

As with the other system, the exact definitions for T and N are different for each different kind of cancer. As you can see, the TNM system is more precise than the I through IV system and certainly has a lot more categories. The two systems are actually related. The I through IV groupings are actually defined using the TNM system. For example, stage II non-small cell lung cancer means a T1 or T2 primary tumor with N1 lymph node involvement, and no metastases (M0). She was kind to provide me with some photos of the courses of treatment she underwent. (photos published with permission)

One other issue she faced was her own constant movements during some of her sessions as this can auger negatively for any patient and can lead to punctured or damaged skin that may itch or get infected if not properly monitored. She now does her Herceptin treatment every three weeks and has subsidized the costs through insurance and other state healthcare benefits under the National Health Fund and some help from Jamaica Reach to Recovery. Treatment can run in the millions literally locally as her initial run was budgeted for over $2M. Her type of cancer as you may have gleaned is rare as her family history does not have many persons who have or had the disease, she was alone on this front. Four other members of the audience expressed their own stories of losing loved ones and are presently under pain from some sort of cancer, but mostly that of the breast, clearly there are issues of closure for some persons with cancer of any sort. Judy’s case however is a testament to survival and proof that strong will and determination can help to overcome the odds, her sister who was present in the discussion paid testament to that as she said she sometimes draws strength from Judy even though it is Judy who is ailing and she still wonders how does she do it?. Applause rang from the audience and commendations as to how she dealt with the whole ordeal and for openly sharing the information the audience ended the session which was followed by the floor opened to poetry.

So it would seem as the story gains traction, when it first broke on the Jamaica Observer it was a vague little worded piece that left more questions and negative reactions than anything else but since the last twenty four hours with statements from and footage from the Minister of Youth Lisa Hanna seeking to outline some of the issues she is aware of more seems to be coming to light, her use of the term “predatory sexual activity” is a bit troubling to me though, it seems she is busy this year as the cooling down of the Permanent Secretary Sydney Bartley homo-paedophile matter is still in the Supreme Court even though the Minister is no longer named as a party in that matter the other named parties are still being pursued. 120 boys or so will have to find a place to live after June 2014 although the educational components of the work will continue said a spokesperson for the institution.

SITUATIONAL HOMOSEXUALITY This term refers sociologically to widespread same-sex behaviour in total institutions where no partner of the opposite sex is available. I bring this up as I am afraid the boys may be stigmatised out of all this for being freaks or homosexuals playing into the predatory nature perception held out there especially by the anti gay establishment. In some cases, as in prisons, jails and reformatories, places of safety, half way houses and transitional living facilities the residents/inmates are there involuntarily; in others, as ships at sea, monasteries and nunneries participation has been freely chosen although terms of engagement, strict rules and curtailed socializing activities limit sexual release. The situational homosexuality term is also applied to cultures where adolescents are gender-segregated the assumption behind the notion of psychological situational homosexuality is that the individual’s behaviour is dependent on the heterosexually deprived situation, and that those performing homosexual acts faute , de mieux under these circumstances will revert to heterosexual behavior once they regain access to the opposite sex, while the “true” homosexual prefers his own sex even when the other is freely accessible.

The situation of deprivation does not affect all people equally.

In the case of Alpha Boys like any other such facility experimentation too maybe a factor especially the homo-negative culture that exists here, there is a way in which persons become attracted to taboo practices out there in private circumstances. The Minister’s exact words regarding the same sex activities she said she was told by the Nuns at Alpha (Roman Catholic sisters of Mercy) in February was as follows:

“The sisters of mercy cited the grave anti social behaviour ….. the sexual predatory nature of the boys on one another on a daily basis ……… the incapability of human capital to respond to the many and changing faces of the issues manifested today, the challenge is further compounded by the high cost of care for each child.”

Are the sisters going by their own assessment of the situation from a church standpoint thus interpreting the matter as predatory (not saying it is all together true) there was some denial of the reasons for the discontinued residency component by one PR representative Joshua Chamberlain who said on radio “There is absolutely no truth from those suggesting the home is shutting down partly due to inappropriate behaviour among Alpha Boys, residential care if transitioning to day care……” I guess the goodly PR rep is trying to avoid a generalization that the boys are wholesale perverts as slightly suggested by the Youth Minister.

Even late nineteenth-century authors realized that some individuals never engage in homo- sexual activity no matter how long or how intense the deprivation from heterosexual contact they endure. Similarly, many homosexuals fail to take up heterosexual activity even though homosexuality may be so severely repressed as to be practically unavailable. Nevertheless, cross-cultural evidence abundantly documents higher incidences of homosexual activity in situations of heterosexual deprivation, and markedly so for males in their sexual prime.

SIWA OASIS A town in the Libyan desert of western Egypt, Siwa is the site of an ancient civilization which retained a form of institutionalized homosexuality into the modern era. The oasis was the location of an oracle consulted by Alexander the Great and modern observers have stressed how the Berber population conserved its own language, religious rites, and sexual customs despite the later overlay of Islam and Egyptian administration. Sexual relations among men fell into the ancient pattern of pairing between usually married adult men and adolescent bachelors. In the nineteenth century, families lived within the walls of a town constructed rather like a single large adobe “beehive” while all unmarried men lived together on the edges of town where they made up a warrior class (zaggalah) protecting the oasis from desert marauders. In the twentieth century, as the military function declined and the townspeople have moved out of the walled centre, the zaggalah have become agricultural labourers retaining their customs and clubhouses. The anthropologist Walter Cline, writing in 1936, found “All normal Siwan men and boys practice sodomy. . . .

I am in no way suggesting that sodomy is the only same sex activity found in this case of Alpha as partnered masturbation also is a key way to “gain release” which in such situational circumstances but again the Youth Minister’s wording makes it seems as anal rape when she uses “predatory behaviour” substitutional sex as the experts tell us lacks the more erotic or raunchy elements of sex between innate gay men for example and is not as engaging as two more romantically involved same sex partners. Among themselves the zaggalah natives are not ashamed of this; they talk about it as openly as they talk about love of women, and many if not most of their fights arise from homosexual competition.” Among the zaggalah, man-boy relationships were formally recognized when the man offered the boy’s father a gift (or bride price) as in heterosexual marriage. Abd Allah notes that “Siwan cus- toms allow a man but one boy [vs. four wives] to whom he is bound by a stringent code of obligations.” In the zaggalah club- house “labourers come together on any occasion for communal rejoicing and assemble on moonlight nights for drinking, singing, and dancing to the merry rhythm of flute and drum” (Cline).T his festive and erotic tradition culminates in a three-day bacchanal dedicated to the medieval sheik, Sidi Soliman, following the Islamic fast of Ramadan. The various accounts of Siwa agree on the openness and fluidity of sexuality, in that divorce is casual and serial polygamy common, men having as many as a dozen wives over time. Male and female prostitution was noted and Cline remarked that the role in homosexual relations was variable and voluntary.

I think we need to examine this case some more far more carefully, JFLAG and the other advocates have not responded to this faux pas of sorts either which has me concerned sometimes as to their relevance as this issue can be made to play into the anti gay establishment as reason to oppose and block the trajectory to LGBT rights and recognition seeing the repeated conflation between abuse and same gender sex when in truth and in fact abuse is abuse no matter the sexual orientation or gender of the perpetrator. Seeing also that the boys are the same age grouping how else are we to deal with this?

The Youth Minister in a follow up discussion this morning on Nationwide radio suggested isolation of the identified abusers with psychological intervention what she did not say or was asked by the interviewers was was this in a view to also push reparative therapy supposedly thinking the boys are gay and need to be changed? Why I raised this is because many of the professionals in the system are trained in Christian run theological colleges often disregarding the diagnostic statistical manual, DSM with regards to homosexuality which is not a disorder yet some professional ignore this and their personal values clash with protocols. I am concerned for the boys as this situation reminds me of the easy way out mentality by administrations for such facilities, The Safe House Project 2009 that was under the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life was closed down by the board due to “bad behaviour” as the given reason then yet we have ended up with grief with displaced/homeless MSM/Trans persons numbers spiralling out of control with a JFLAG silent then and actually moving into the space that was the shelter turning it into their offices. They soon bore the backlash over time with the men attacking the offices of JASL as well intermittently with a notice to quit being the final edict and demolition of the building in 2013.

It seems there is an impatience to stick with problematic populations (outside of funding woes) in terms of transitional work and the psycho social components is still a problem as the quest for rights via victimhood abounds and takes precedence, this Alpha case has a touch shade of it too but let us see where it leads, the homeless msm/trans individuals in New Kingston for example are obviously being manipulated by powerful advocates and institutions as a recent news item showed where complaints about police abuse were highlighted, yes there is abuse but the same voices complaining are well established entities with robust funding to do something meaningful but instead the foot dragging continues while reclining in the HIV prevention imperative naming the cohort as vulnerable and susceptible to HIV, yes stigma/homo-negativity etc. exists but how it is presented sometimes short changes the very thrust. If the Alpha situation is met with proper responses via the government however to include psycho social/sexual interventions then it stands to reason that government can also address homelessness and displacement in the LGBT populations seeing that some advocates already expect state actors to take care of them while they recline in privilege.

Hypocrisy is a hell of a thing I tell you.

I am also concerned about the re-integration process as the minister spoke to some prior training of parents who with troubled children are exposed to twenty hours of training so as to engage the children when they return home, is LGBT child rearing included in this? I doubt it, such much more developmental issues arise here simply from this news of the closure of noble institution.

As promised here is another periodical update on an income generating/diligence building project now in effect for some now seven former homeless and displaced MSM in St Catherine, it originally had twelve persons but some have gotten jobs elsewhere, others have simply walked away and one has relocated to another parish, to date their weed whacking earning business capacity has been struggling as previous posts on the subject has brought to bear and although some LGBT persons residing in the parish have been approached by yours truly and others to increase client count for the men costs such as gas and maintenance of the four machines that are rotated between the enrolled men are rising weekly literally while the demand is instead decreasing due to various reasons.

When the initial idea was rolled out at the time in late 2012 via a mixed religion group to include myself and another gay individual there was some resistance to it as the activity was a carry over from a major well funded church project for unemployed youth one of whom still is in this dispensation, several leaders at the time left the revamped project idea claiming they were not supporting the gay lifestyle, the market for landscaping was already saturated with several other players including lawn cutters from Kingston and nearby parishes and Portmore, breaking into the domain was difficult and several attempts were made via flyers, repeated personal visits by myself and the men in walk-a-bouts various housing schemes and so on. The slow rainfall as well added more delays in shrubbery and vegetation growth hence the slow demand for services/repeat visits and cuttings and as costs for the actual weed whacking machines also come down more middle class households purchase their own machines and do their own manicuring of their lawns and fence-hedging. Expansion to other parishes to include Kingston is in the works and also major sites such as office grounds, schools and playgrounds are being considered but a proper marketing/introductory strategy is needed and is being prepared such as an introductory letter and so forth. Due to a spate of robberies generally as well in certain communities that are lonely with no major pedestrian activity during the work hours on weekdays a couple neighbourhood watches have taken a no tolerance approach to “strange faces” in their communities so they refuse to engage new persons seeking business such as cutting lawns, selling newspapers or such peddling and one community actually instituted a gated arrangement with a guard to control movement in and out of the scheme thus limiting potential business for the men, this community though not so new has several wide lawn area that will require tending to and a formal approach is being strategized. The rotation of the machines amongst the project participants has caused some challenges as well as one or more whackers may be out for repairs thus leaving the designated user out of a machine hence no income or shortened time for those who have machines than normal which has caused some riffs and in-fighting between the participants in the project of which I have had to intervene.

No profiling or homo-negative challenges thus far

Thankfully due to the masculine aesthetics of the participants no major profiling has occurred, a concern I had prior to the rollout of the project/machines. The project coordinators outside of myself are still at odds as to the more effeminate counterparts of the men who are presently enrolled and what to develop for them is still a concern, those persons have sought shelter elsewhere with friends for now; the group that were evicted from a house in Sydenham some time ago are also still struggling and some of those persons when contacted on this project in the early days declined the initiation I presume on a premise of mistrust as others have approached the men/transgender persons before with false promises I am told hence their scepticism. An Aphrodite’s PRIDE Jamaica team member had suggested some sort of activity tailored to the female cisgender imperative such as make-up/beauty training and so on but the issue of stereotypical gender role boxing of the group has come up.

Rates as well have been affected due to some of the aforementioned challenges and competition, in order to stay in business average rates have fallen by some 20% average based on my calculations, for e.g. a typical front lawn (hedging not included as scissors are also needed, machetes alone won’t do) probably twenty five feet by thirty feet taking roughly fifteen to twenty minutes to whack could have fetched up to $1,800 now that has come down to $1,200 or less provided the cutter names his price at let’s say $1,500 then negotiates his way down to stay within the ball park. Gas prices have sky rocketed with rates from Petrojam going up weekly for the past eight weeks, a litre of gas now runs at $130/L and it takes 5 litres for the gallon which in turn serves one cutter one or two days depending on the frequency of jobs, the gas itself is also light as feather and burns off faster than normal despite the governing of the machines for maximum delivery per litre of gas. Unfair competition in my eyes as well is hurting business as weedsters from the government’s JEEP temporary employment program who weed-whack parks, medians and public spaces and who also are allowed to take home the govt owned machines are invading the private market as well thus diminishing business and with their more aggressive tactics some have gone as far as to use the local political and parish council representative as muscle to work their way into the market as they tell their people on the ground who in turn tell others. They while earning from their salaried contracts from JEEP are able to price down their services thus affecting market rates tremendously.

Such is the nature of business right now but the men have managed overall to eek out some small profits or break even in some instances. The psycho-social bit is also being examined and elements of the soon to be concluded Enterprise Training that I am apart of are being reviewed with modifications of course for this cohort; the men are also being encouraged to save as best as possible and consolidate on certain things such as food purchases and so on, two of the men are in fact in a long term relationship so their money management issues are a little better off than the others one of whom has a son from a previous opposite gender relationship. Encouragement has come from the mostly mixed Christian heterosexual group although the teething challenges were numerous they have settled and are now seemingly looking past sexual orientation although there is a push by at least one person for some type of reparative work and prayer for change. The Christmas treat held last year is still fresh in the men’s mind as there were new comers in the lot and the grocery packages though small are welcomed by them saving time and money to fetch such items on their own. My concern is to move them from just mere tokenism to more independent thinking and devising their own way to fend for themselves, the necessitated rotation of the machines has become a blessing in disguise as it has come to teach the men sharing and patience major tools in diligence building and the all important life-plan efficacious activity seems more eminent than before as the anger and resentment from being displaced slowly subsides. We are seeking a qualified professional with counselling expertise to do one on one work with them to move to the next step as the project becomes more formalised.

I had an idea to divert a few of them to a program on catering but it soon dawned on me that with independence it would have been difficult to ask them to make such a separation to non income status although the training would make them qualified and also the hours needed to seek business are also the same hours for classes so it would have been a catch 22 situation.

I am feeling a little better seeing some of the displaced and homeless MSM/Transgender persons are being addressed but it is in no way near the answers needed as others elsewhere on the island struggle with a myriad of issues. A community influential in Mandeville has recently taken on a few in his home for a short time while in St Ann an influential who was assisting some men there has given up due to the behavioural challenges and pilfering has caused him to discontinue any further assistance. I nearly got to that place as well after my own experience in July last year when I took in a youngster only to have to put him out three days after as he brought a sex buddy to my home without expressed permission or prior notification, such as the challenges with community based shelter assistance. That is precisely when several more privileged gay/bi persons do not assist separate and apart from the classism and snobbery that obtains in the our “community”

We are thinking of devising an aggressive fund raising activity incorporating various means, donations of cash and kind have been slowly kicking in from persons in the know of the project and I have sent over donations as well thanks to my donors via my blogs through Paypal online and a cheque recently delivered to me by a long time reader residing here of which we are grateful. Each one reach one as Babbie Mason would say in her song.

More and more I seem to be coming across young gay, transgender and bisexual youth who feel weary it seems from the over supply of pinch leave an inch condoms, pamphlets and paraphernalia on safer sex and AIDS and other related materials as multiple agencies jostle to reach what has basically become the same cohort on the face of it of males for the most part in the quest for HIV prevention but where are the more meaningful outreach and interventions for holistic development and nurture?

Some in the know may say that funding is hardly available for those kinds of developmental work (which maybe true in a sense but still sounds more like an apology for slackness and maintaining the old status quo) and indeed the more cynical would go as far as to say it is not the agencies involved best interest to do or offer such meaningful interventions as that will diminish their cohort of potential service users and thus nothing to report hence no need to prepare programs only to seek future funds, after all agencies exist to supposedly help but how many persons are actually being helped or impressive success stories to prove same while old narratives are still being used to suggest that gay/bi men do not have access to safer sex implements which is a lie.

CVM Newscast of the Cargill Avenue eviction where the truckmen/movers found and commented on the condoms they found

Homeless MSM having their version of fun recently by the infamous Gully nearing the Island Car Rentals officeFrom the Millsborough Avenue embarrassing eviction of some of the homeless MSM/Trans persons last year, condom wrapper is clearly visibleMore condom wrappers indicating that the men are only seen as HIV Prevention targets, what about other developmental work?

The complaints and reports still come almost on a monthly basis these days of some homo-negative outcome somewhere on the island and the phone calls of requests for money or some form of assistance are growing in frequency too as economic issues abound. There agencies that run and managed by powerful gay persons who have the clout to solves this long standing matter of displacements seeing we have both hard and anecdotal evidence that tells us in no uncertain terms that those are visible consequences of stigma, homophobia and homo-negativity.

Take for example this flashback: UNIMPRESSED WITH THE CVM TV SHOW ON MSM HOMELESSNESS

The September 6th 2012 appearance of representatives from The National Council of Drug Abuse and AIDSFREEWORLD’s Maurice Tomlinson to address the recent public eviction of homeless MSM from Cargill Avenue was at best damage control to another embarrassment regarding the poor response from the relevant LGBT agencies. JFLAG WAS NOT PRESENT AT THIS CVM TV LIVE @ SEVEN Program The attempt to use old programmatic language by Maurice Tomlinson to suggest MSM have no access to condoms while the CVM newscast itself showed the movers holding the condoms in their hands they found on the site and saying the men were practising safer sex should be instructive to ALL in view.

Young gay men as indicated above are also becoming weary of the way they are viewed despite the aforementioned concerns in a group session over the past week some young men some of whom were teetering on homelessness were invited to a meeting called by a community influential who is concerned about the numbers of them on the streets mostly from Kingston, Portmore and Spanish Town (excluding the five who are helped by a church/LGBTQ group in an ongoing weed whacking project) where they aired some issues they had it was instructive that some of them had a barrage of condoms on their person and laughed at the exposure of them as they accidentally fell from a bag of one of the attendees. He joked “All dem do a full mi up wid boots” (all they do is full me up with condoms) “boots” is the colloquial expression for condoms but something happened after the initial laughter died down as it seems the realization that they were having trouble finding permanent shelter or other crisis issues ongoing were real and that “boots” cannot be a solution whenever they are met by the various outreach teams as part of the HIV prevention strategy. The homeless men for example who have been making the news in New Kingston have been receiving food items once a week but is that enough? They too have had loads of condoms thrown at them as we have seen repeatedly on the television newscasts and other videos covering them. What about the deeper issues and personal concerns they have. The men in the meeting of which I was present were asked to fill out a random list of what they require and their lists read as a call for items and things you and I may have probably not considered important as we enjoy those amenities or interactions on a daily basis and indeed take them for granted. The simple lament by the boots carrying man screams far more than just the obvious since they fell in such a great numbers, one could easily count thirty or so. The conversation continued after the list creation exercise and what came out was a stunner to me despite my knowledge of how some persons feel about the whole scenario as older displaced men in time have echoed a similar sentiment with some level of frustration.

The ideal scenario would be a meeting place for group session and support meetings

Steady supply of food cooked or uncooked

Shelter and some sort of transitional living program towards independence

Educational or skills building opportunities

Guidance on developing and executing life plans through self efficacious activity not just limited to HIV prevention

Exploring the arts and possible skills linked to cross dressing aesthetics and affinity to cosmetics (drag culture, forced feminization and female cisgenderistic presentations for male to female transgender persons in the group)

But by the sound of the lament and the subsequent tete a tete the men are not satisfied; theirs is a perception that more privileged homosexuals control tons of money in funding and that the money is being spent on non essential things such as court cases, fat cat salaries and perks while persons who are on the lower socio totem pole are just relegated to being “victims” or service users and nothing more, doomed to get HIV (if they do not have it already) or waiting to die. Such were the tones in the ensuing discourse. Recent history has unfortunately given some credence to these perceptions as feelings of abandonment of the aforementioned homeless men in New Kingston still linger from the repeated news headlines, shenanigans and police interventions of that population and believe me word travels whenever there is any such occurrences. The men in the long and short of it want to be seen as human beings that deserve respect as one older person claims that there is favouritism as well in how interventions are carried out by some agencies and their representatives. Why are some powerful advocates and personalities in HIV/MSM prevention in particular refusing to go this route of real life changing intervention rollouts is still not clear to some, the departure of a Board Chair of Jamaica AIDS Support for Life also has not gone down so comfortably with myself and others as her stance on homelessness was supportive for the most part despite the run-ins with the men and the stoning incidents on their former offices at Upper Musgrave Avenue yet by the soundings out there one particular former chair but who still sits on the bench has been haggling against any such proactive moves to address homelessness which does not surprise me as he was the chair when the Safe House Pilot was closed with no psycho-social interventions allowed to stop the “bad behaviour” that was used a justification to take such final actions on a needed project.

My part in the whole affair however was to offer some encouragement to the lads in the scheme of things especially owing to the fact that one of the men’s friends was hospitalised recently for a brief illness but how can words heal when the real life toughness abounds and affect their present reality? Then we turn around and wonder why the anti social behaviours are happening when it is obviously clear to those looking that such are only means to an end to forget if only for a fleeting moment the worries of the hour. It is also interesting that as a group the men are indeed “rowdy” (word used by voices in the gay lobby to describe them also “maladjusted miscreants” showing the elitist side to this) but as individuals is it amazing what comes flying out of them in a one on one session discussing real life matters yet they are for all intents and purposes made to become martyrs in a sense for a cause that they might not have subscribed to in ordinary circumstances when asked to do so. Leaving them out in the cold for so long seems unethical on the face of it then allowing the numbers to reach levels where they can be used and paraded as “concerned” advocates make themselves look good in coming to their rescue. We are not fooled by the deception but let us see how long the using will take place and if really any proper productive end will come of the recently announced shelter idea, yet another one.

Some indigenous groups such as the aforementioned St Catherine weed whacking project group, Colour Pink (aligned to the aforementioned JASL) and Aphrodite’s PRIDE Jamaica of which I am performing Outreach and Facilitation duties for their Enterprise Training Project for more stable formerly displaced MSM/Trans and Lesbian individuals are addressing in their own way psycho-social issues and other concerns such as jobs and education development but we know where some of the blame of all this lies at the feet of these same agencies who only do enough to look as if they are addressing some issues but not with a view to adequately address what they take on only for the interventions to last out for experts have jobs it seems. Others seem more interested in media whoring possibly to satisfy a narcissistic complex at the expense of the least amongst us and then we wonder why we are here with an exploding displaced and homeless grouping and advocacy in limbo in the face of steady HIV/AIDS infection rates in the MSM cohort.

The APJ training for example we stay far away as a possible from an over preponderance of HIV messaging and instead go for positive reinforcement in terms of identity, coming out and so on.

Some things to think about but who is brave enough to say it openly when their snouts are in the troughs?

As the rulings in India and Australia makes the rounds worldwide as to their respective losses of gay marriage rights we got some celebratory soundings from the religious right corner on social media as a victory of sorts on supposed wholesome living; as if same gender loving couples outside of exploitive same sex reasons as we know those exist cannot have and enjoy monogamous unions and associated state recognition and rights as privileged heterosexual couples. At not time in Jamaica am I aware of any call by local lobbyists for same sex marriage rights and benefits but the fear-mongering coming from the theocracy one is led to believe that there is some Gestapo at work to suppress free speech although sometimes there is overstep by sections of the lobby and indeed mistakes are made.

Human Rights Day 2013 the anti gay group Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS held an outdoor conference at the Emancipation Park in New Kingston where they for the most part planted fear in the minds of the public claiming the gay lobby and its agenda is to in essence silence the church with future laws to silence clergy and force marriage officers to marry gay persons even if they do not agree. Shirley Richards past president of the Lawyers’Christian Fellowship and co-founder of the JCHS said in a radio interview as the session was in progress that the event was to put human rights within their proper context and to develop a proper perspective of same, she said her group is concerned how human rights is being interpreted and applied and there are some things missing. She continued that the autonomy of the individual cannot be the sum total of human rights she likened the thrust to a right to destroy unborn babies, to destroy oneself sexually and values on a whole so she thinks the church needs to intervene and supposedly stop the madness. Dr Wayne West lead voice for the JCHS also spoke in that same interview and echoed Mrs Richards perspective adding a prophetic role and understanding the philosophical perspective by some and imposing same on society so the JCHS’s role is to interpret same for the Christian community (excluding LGBT ones I imagine). See: Miss Richard’s earlier paranoia here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIjmj9kJds

Guest speaker one Brian Camenker of a US based anti gay pro straight family group Mass Resistance led the fear-mongering of gay marriage imposition and forced legislation to same while also forcing children to cross dress blatantly showing his ignorance to transgenderism. He repeated plugged his book “What same-sex “marriage” has done to Massachusetts” he claimed that the international lobby is about to impose homosexuality on the nation as done in the United States by massaging our Prime Minister and laws that contradict God’s law is the beginning of a slippery slope; he lamented that the gay pride parade was a way to psychologically impose the lifestyle to include open cross dressing, masochists and so called “other profane acts” (in a gay pride!? really!) then he went on to say that the church will be mocked and the subsequent non discrimination laws and that businesses were forced to accept gay business; he sited a case of a catholic couple who refused business of gays in their hotel and were sued. He then complained of gays must not be allowed to adopt children and that schools were having all day events celebrating gay activities. All this without any proper sitting of the information just pure fear-mongering and to think this was coming from a white foreigner the audience just sat there and accepted this simplistic presentation. He also claimed gay marriage was forced on his home state of Boston.

He claimed that gay marriage has had many disturbing side effects “I’ll mention just one, we were working with a Christian woman a single mother her son is in the fifth grade, the teacher is a lesbian who constantly tells the class about her wife this has traumatised the boy terribly because it’s against the families beliefs; I went with the mother to meet the school principal to talk about it, the principal told us that because gay marriage is legal that the mother doesn’t have a choice in that matter.” He then went on to conflate transgenderism with homosexuality by saying that the next item on the agenda is the call for state funding to solve problems caused by homosexuality; he claimed the state and federal governments are being asked in his sate to spend enormous amounts on HIV/AIDS caused by homosexual behaviours, he claimed gay on gay violence is an epidemic as it is gays who are killing gays. He claimed the non discrimination laws on transgenderism is a ploy to allow children to wear opposite sex attire and use mixed bathrooms as well and teachers who do not comply are punished; all this Mr Carmenker pronounced loudly on the stage without any backing information or links to access same while the audience agreed with him in rousing chants at each sentence. Then came the conflation with abuse and same gender sex a mixup that even the JCHS has repeatedly done as covered on this blog as well; he claimed that persons are for the most part introduced to homosexual sex through abuse as if no one is born homosexual. He warned that locals must not allow buggery to be decriminalized as free speech will disappear and gay marriage rights is next to force clergy to marry gay persons. He kept referring to the lobbyists as gay profane mobs. He claimed that a meeting such as the one he was speaking is not possible in Boston which sounds on the surface as a lie. During the one hour event there was no outcry for violence towards persons who are gay or different and obvious non Christian passers-by used their way of showing approval with gun gesticulations, boom bye bye and no batty boi sound offs.

apologies for the glitches but the source feed was tacky …. video for non profit purpose and review only

Just days before CVM TV showed a television special entitled Battle Lines: Javed Jaghai versus the State which also featured the JCHS and others who literally fear the simply decriminalization of buggery to allow consent in private while criminalizing abusers and non consensual perpetrators of whatever gender. I will admit that the leading lobbyists locally have been sloppy in certain respects in the push as they only recently changed their position on buggery from a full repeal to decriminalization which took too long to occur given the opposition over the life of the struggle from their 15 years in operation.

So it’s not us at the altar any time soon if they religious right have their way, we must never have a stable family life albeit I am not into relationships but do support those who choose same. Creating fear and panic in those as if homosexuals are here to force everyone else to be so, poisoned aren’t we?

the venue of the gig where the attack took placeempty room of Dwayne/Gully Queen at the captured house where she once lived with her friends

Dwayne Jones (Gully Queen) in good times

As news spread of Gully Queen’s death it became apparent to me that another young transwoman had not been allowed the chance to fulfil her female cisgender imperative and was too inexperienced to realise that it was important to choose wisely who one shares certain information with.

Dwayne Jones was relentlessly teased in high school for being effeminate until he dropped out. His father not only kicked him out of the house at the age of 14 but also helped jeering neighbours push the youngster from the rough Jamaican slum where he grew up.

By age 16, the teenager was dead — beaten, stabbed, shot and run over by a car when he showed up at a street party dressed as a woman. His mistake: confiding to a friend that he was attending a “straight” party as a girl for the first time in his life.

“When I saw Dwayne’s body, I started shaking and crying,” said Khloe, one of three friends who shared a derelict house with the teenager in the hills above the north coast city of Montego Bay. Like many transgender and gay people in Jamaica, Khloe wouldn’t give a full name out of fear. Pity as well as homelessness which has been ignored for years in the LGBT advocacy structure featured most prominently in this case and to think after the furore and public cynicism the house where the guys remained was firebombed with very little proactive measures taken by JFLAG and the others handling the case file so more victims ended up being made instead of redress and closure. Thankfully no one was badly hurt after that ordeal but the aforementioned agencies failure over the years to properly provide programs and interventions for LGBT youth is telling and many incidents could have been avoided.

Even though some 300 people were at the dance party in the small riverside community of Irwin, police have yet to make a single arrest in Dwayne’s murder. Police say witnesses have said they couldn’t see the attackers’ faces.

Dwayne was the centre of attraction shortly after arriving in a taxi at 2 am with his two 23-year-old housemates, Khloe and Keke. Dwayne’s expert dance moves, long legs and high cheekbones quickly made him the one that the guys were trying to get next to.

Like many Jamaican homosexuals, Dwayne was careful about confiding in others about his sexual orientation. But when he saw a girl he had known from church, he told her he was attending the party in drag.

Minutes later, according to Khloe and Keke, the girl’s male friends gathered around Dwayne in the dimly-lit street asking: “Are you a woman or a man?” One man waved a lighter’s flame near Dwayne’s sneakers, asking whether a girl could have such big feet.

Then, his friends said, another man grabbed a lantern from an outdoor bar and walked over to Dwayne, shining the bright light over him from head to toe. “It’s a man,” he concluded, while the others hissed “batty boy” and other anti-gay epithets.

Khloe says she tried to steer him away from the crowd, whispering in Dwayne’s ear: “Walk with me, walk with me.” But Dwayne pulled away, loudly insisting to partygoers that he was a girl. When someone behind him snapped his bra strap, the teen panicked and raced down the street.

But he couldn’t run fast enough to escape the mob.

The teenager was viciously assaulted and apparently half-conscious for some two hours before another sustained attack finished him off, according to Khloe, who was also beaten and nearly raped. She hid in a nearby church and then the surrounding woods, unable to call for help because she didn’t have her mobile phone.

Dwayne’s father in the Montego Bay slum of North Gully didn’t want to talk about his son’s life or death. The teen’s family wouldn’t even claim the body, according to Dwayne’s friends.

They remembered him as a spirited boy with a contagious laugh who dreamt of becoming a performer like Lady Gaga. He was also a street-smart hustler who resorted to sleeping in the bushes or on beaches when he became homeless. He won a local dancing competition during his time on the streets and was affectionately nicknamed “Gully Queen.”

“He was the youngest of us but he was a diva,” Khloe said. “He was always very feisty and joking around.”

Inside their squatter house, Khloe and Keke said, they still talk to their dead friend.

“I’ll be cooking in the kitchen and I’ll say, ‘Dwayne, you hungry?’ or something like that,” said Keke while sitting on the old mattress in her bedroom, flinching as neighbourhood dogs barked outside. “We just miss him all the time. Sometimes I think I see him.”

But down the hall, Dwayne’s room is empty except for pink window curtains decorated with roses, his favourite flower

also this month we lost Britney Boudashious the reigning Miss LGBT World who was murdered in November, she was to hand over the crown at this year’s gala event but she did not make it, no clear motive has been established for her demise.

Britney’s Crowning in 2012her glorious moment after such hard work and practice to get there

then the other shocker in August as the popular socialite Barbie Love passed after a brief illness, you may remember her public appearances that were not so positive but she brought visibility to the cross dressing and transwoman communities in 2009 as photo shows below when the XNews published a sensationalistic article and the on Television where she was arrested after a cruising hookup went bad then public, subsequently she sealed her fame by granting an exclusive interview on Ragashanti live

You may also want to check out posts from sisters blogs under the tabs:Lawyers' Christian Fellowship HERE, HERE and HEREJCHS HERE and HERE Buggery Law HERE Charter of Rights HERE Christianity & Homosexuality HEREReligion as Divisive HERE and Jamaica CAUSE HERE to see some of the damage this woman has done or heavily influenced over these many years […]

MSMGFThank you for your interest in this research survey on the sexual health of gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) worldwide!Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decide not to participate, or stop your participation at any time.WHOIn response to feedback on the 2012 GMHR survey, this survey is specifically designed for men w […]

I am still trying to control my laughter as I typed this post from reading this wonderful article twice that appeared in the Gleaner today, the hysteria, fear-mongering and inciting violence under the guise of a stupid tag line from the anti gay newly formed group Jamaica CAUSE "Straight without the hate" or "love the sinner but hate the sin […]

Radio host and rights advocate with his own style of advocacy Lloyd D'Agular's letter became the letter of the day and pleasantly surprisingly so seeing that the Gleaner in recent times had sunk to a low in terms of true journalism from walkouts by award winning staff from press conferences (CVCC) to the tabloid type writing on the JFJ CVCC funded […]

Courtesy of Belizean LGBT RightsFor the first time ever, Belize and Jamaica has almost simultaneous protest regarding professor Bain termination. The debate pitted the issue of religious-base bigotry which has a moral stamp of approval against a collective who is concern about the intersecting issues of rights enforcement and protection as part of an overall […]

Atty-at-LawBarbara GayleThe report that a male jogger was buggered recently in Queen Hill, St Andrew has led to some Jamaicans calling for all rapists to be hanged.Many Jamaicans have been shocked by the incident and have expressed sympathy for the victim of that heinous crime and are hoping that the perpetrators will be caught.Some vendors downtown Kingston […]

Former host of Dr Sexy Live on Nationwide radio and Sexologist tackles in a simplistic but to the point style homophobia and asks the poignant question of the age, What really are we as a nation afraid of?It seems like homosexuality is on everyone's tongue. From articles in the newspapers to countless news stories and commentaries, it seems like everyon […]

The UK is planning to deport a Ugandan woman who applied for aslyum saying she was a lesbian saying she cannot possibly be a lesbian as ‘she has not been in a lesbian relationship for 5 years.’Harriet Nakigudde, a 30 year old Ugandan lady applied for asylum in the UK fearing for her life because of her sexuality as a lesbian according to official documents.M […]

Welcome to the real world as the author got a taste of what an angry set of gay youth can be like after being neglected by not only their families but also their more privileged peers as wellphotos from Observer at the time of the original report featuring some older members of the displaced populations from the closed Safe House Pilot 2009Terror, as gays ar […]

Ingrid BrownHIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSMs) now experience little or no barrier in accessing services at the island's public health facilities despite Jamaica's stringent buggery laws which criminalises the practice.This has been made possible by the Ministry of Health which recently facilitated the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexu […]

A statement has come to hand in recent days that the new round of Global Fund money is now available for the national program to the tune of $506 million and as of March 2014 some 13,000 plus men who have sex with men (while excluding specific programs for same gender loving women) have occurred but what does this outreach means, only condom distribution and […]

A continuation from the previous post on a recent case in the UK of a Jamaican using or claiming homosexuality in order to remain in the UK: Illegal Jamaican Immigrant on murder charge suddenly recalls his GAY to remain in the UK?Diane Abbot wrote in today's Observer on the matter:MAY… insisted on ordering the Jamaican’s deportation in 2009JAMAICANS and […]

According to the Daily Mail yes it seems so but I am not surprised as several years ago a plot like this was discovered when some dishonest solicitors were accused of telling accused criminals to take on a "camp" persona at the holding areas and so on and plea for asylum when infront the judges and even dress and act the part, effeminate that is as […]

A seventeen year old teenager from St Andrew is the latest reported case of family ostracism that has come to my attention as more LGBT youth and adolescents find themselves on the frontline alone sometimes due to sheer ignorance by parents and urged by said elders siblings also participate willingly in making outcasts of their blood relatives. The young man […]

also see: Promised (I mean suggested) Conscience vote on Buggery law not a priority right now (yet again)Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, says special provisions must be made, where necessary, to protect the welfare of persons who are among the most marginalised and disadvantaged.She underscored this point in a speech delivered by Justice […]

By DAVID CRARY AP National WriterIt's the Truvada conundrum: A drug hailed as a lifesaver for many people infected by HIV is at the heart of a rancorous debate among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over its potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms.Many doctors and activists see immense promise […]

I am in full agreement with this post on the recent Rupaul uproar and the she-male comments during the Logo TV popular show featuring Miss Ru, GREGORY ROSEBRUGH of Bent a queer blog wrote an excellent piece on the issue to which I commented "Excellent post and balance to this matter, other places I have noticed an intolerant view of intolerance or plain […]

Queen Ifrica says that her songs have been embraced by members of the homosexual community.Speaking in a video that has gone viral on social media, the Lioness On The Rise hitmaker says her music has been comforting to gay men who have been victims of rape or incest."I have worked extensively with people from the gay community since I did Daddy Don […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica – As Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) gets ready for its week of activities to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community starting Emancipation Day, speculations abound on social media about a possible gay pride parade in Jamaica.If this is the case, Minister of Justic […]

Leaders of a regional coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations sent a letter to CARICOM’s leadership, urging them not to fall prey to a regional panic in response to equal marriage. CariFLAGS likened calls in a 33,000+ signature evangelical petition to CARICOM that targets LGBT people to the Dominican Republic’s treatment of p […]

One has to be so careful out there even though the very slouchy change and tolerance of homosexuality in Jamaica as a discussion is still loaded with some abhorrence for anal sex and the belief that such act is too loaded with interaction with faecal matter is still real and can often lead to challenges in everyday life as persons feel justified with certain […]

More announcements or genuine work here by government given what played out at the review earlier this year?see:Gov't Makes International Commitment To Reduce Violence Against Women, GaysUN Pressure Mounts For Jamaica To Repeal Anti-Gay Laws, Improve LGBT EnvironmentNow we are told that Officers within the public sector are to commence human rights trai […]

also see: Despite opposition, EU Parliament votes for LGBTI rights/trans identity depathologization in gender equality strategy from sister blog GLBTQJA, I however came across this publication excerpted below sent to me via email.The Cotonou Agreement, the core of political and trade relations between the European Union and the group of African, Caribbean, a […]

Speaking at the Jamaica Constabulary Force diversity training workshop aka COMET, Community Empowerment Transformation Project (COMET II) at the Jewels Resort in Runaway Bay today Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry commented on some concerns she has on the interactions between police and marginalized groups. She said it is timely for the force to particip […]

Sometimes the things we do we have to pay the price eventually and such seems to be the case with this latest internal community matter gone public. The Star news carried the following:A self-proclaimed homosexual yesterday drew reference to lines from dancehall artiste Alkaline's 2013 hit 'My Life (Lowe Mi)' (video below) as he sought to just […]

Brian Williamson (September 4 1945 - June 9, 2004) was one of our first out Jamaican Gay rights activist besides another co-founder Larry Chang's public advocacy, Brian was a businessman, philanthropist, club owner/promoter and co-founder of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians and Gays, J-Flag. Also see: Larry Chang ........ a Reintroduction a post I had pu […]

Another pastor has sought to rile up his congregants in a church service where several heterosexual couples renewed their vows and as per usual the fear mongering as if granted gay marriage rights (as is inevitable after dealing with buggery first of course) is going to take away the rights presently enjoyed and protected by straight couples via the various […]

So not surprising as the sentiments were expressed in a radio interview and a call in show on radio some weeks ago during the aftermath of the Presidential visit and the euphoria following especially the LGBT hint and the hailing of Angeline Jackson activist from QCJ.acting President of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Al-Hajj Mekaeel MaknoonHowever I would l […]

Can it really?Love 101FM Twitter handle commentsThe matter of sexual orientation of prospective heterosexual couples was highlighted earlier today as what has been described as concerns raised by some members of the cloth in recent times where new marriages simply end in disaster due to the lack of disclosure or deception on the part of one or both persons i […]

The following appeared in the Gleaner today, for the most part I am in agreement but my concerns are in red in the piece.then Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Parliamentary Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller after the 2011 leadership debateby DUJON RUSSELLThe visit of Randy Berry, special envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transge […]

Firstly, congrats to the folks over in Ireland for doing the sane thing in that referendum on gay marriage, at least they have shown the way. However a referendum here on this? I am not so sure.So we have come to the shrubbery maze yet again and again we have been duped with the previously successful gay marriage refusal claim tied into law reform for the ol […]

It was bad enough that the displaced and homeless MSM/Transgender populations were left out of most of the homelessness week awareness activities as outlined in a previous post (Homelessness Awareness Week May 10 - 16 activities overlooks LGBT populations?) now we hear of more promises from politicians. It is not the first time we have heard concerns only wh […]

So it would seem as the activities and public relations rounds seems to suggest a generalization of homelessness with no reference in sight to MSM/Trans populations. Not that one is asking for special treatment for this group but the issues have been screaming for attention for some time now as continued clashes with other populations in the homeless belt pr […]

SOME people will tell you that their exes are their best friends, but there's a saying that if you can be friends with an ex, either you never loved them or you still do. Indeed, for some people, when there's a break-up and one partner says they can still be friends, it's the same as having a pet die and being told you can keep the body." […]

In a follow up to a previous post internal church discord has emerged since the accusation of sexual assault of a boy by a police officer attached to the Riverton Meadows Seventh Day Adventist Church.It is stories like this that makes the struggle for law reform with regards to the buggery law (repeal or decriminalization) and discrimination for LGBTQians di […]

This old cartoon from the Jamaica Observer's Clovis says it and then some about corruption in the forceOne of two St Catherine gay men blackmail cases involving the police was heard in a Spanish Town court two days ago. I am all too familiar with some of the details emerging in this matter as my own November 1996 matter where myself and three other co-a […]

So now that the US has gotten their act together legislatively it is now time for our friends in the EU and in a timely occurrence there has been a statement.also see from a local standpoint:There goes gay marriage paranoia again .No Buggery Law Removal says Justice Minister, Gay Marriage parachuted in yet againJamaican Gay Unions? Hanna Says Ja Not Ready Fo […]

I have not much to add to this letter I saw in the Gleaner today, I must also big up the sensible commentators who have been battling the uproar since the ruling with some sensible rebuttal, of note is Cliff Hughes of Nationwide while carrying out duties on his daytime show on Power106FM with good arguments.Download the 103 paged ruling HERE and see the Gay […]

In what has been surmised as a rape and robbery ring by a group of some three men in St Catherine has had some challenges for the police and citizens in residential areas such as Ensom City, Monticello, Avon Park and Eltham Acres/Meadows including the upscale Y.P. Seaton housing schemes and others as far west as Old Harbour heights within the last four to fi […]

Yeah! it has happened at last.The word “cisgender” to denote someone whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth, has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word is one of 500 new entries into the dictionary, alongside the word “twerk”, a dance move synonymous with singer Miley Cyrus. According to the Oxford English Diction […]

Yea this blog has touched this before but with new readers some subjects are worth revisiting. Sometimes a good reminder does not hurt as well to center us on basic matters.For most people, when it comes to sexuality, there are two options: gay or straight. As a matter of fact, for some, the only sexuality that matters is heterosexuality (straight), and ever […]

Scientific evidence shows that human sexual behaviour is naturally varied, and should not form a basis for discrimination, says a highly anticipated report from the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).also see: ASSAF REPORT ASSESSES CRIMINALISATION OF SEXUAL DIVERSITYThe report, launched at the Seventh South African AIDS Conference in Durban, South Af […]

In a landmark vote, the European Parliament has demanded to include LGBTI rights in a future EU gender equality strategy. The depatholization component is so critical and must be watched closely.The current strategy for equality between women and men runs out at the end of this year. The report voted on Tuesday June 9, is the Parliament’s input for the gende […]

When the Caitlyn Jenner matter first came to light and in the height of the euphoria Nationwide radio had a discussion on the issue with the present host of the show "Everywoman" Georgette Crawford who in essence made a mess of herself as a sociologist describing Caitlyn's journey and that of another panelist our own trans voice Satiba co-foun […]

So Time magazine has covered the work of Angeline Jackson of Quality Citizenship Jamaica, QCJ given the acknowledgement from President Obama during his visit to Jamaica in April 2015. The timing of this article could not have been more opportune as anti gay voices have long used the old 2006 article and still do up to a day ago on a recent radio show from th […]

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a new report, “Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity”, A/HRC/29/23, or HERE which includes detailed reference to intersex and other LGBTI persons. OII Australia warmly welcomes this report, which for the first time ca […]

As we continue to track this story from the UK some good news at least for now has come forth regarding Orashia, Jamaican Orashia Edwards is appealing rejected claim for asylum after tribunal alleged he was ‘experimenting’ and had been dishonest about his sexuality, this has been a concern for many years when I handled some cases at my time at JFLAG and othe […]

J. Lester FederNewly appointed U.S. LGBT rights envoy Randy Berry doesn’t see his primary job as weighing in in countries where LGBT rights are most embattled. Instead, he says he’s targeting “the vast set of countries in the middle” on the question of embracing LGBT rights as a human rights concern.“If we can do our part to move the center of the universe t […]

In a follow up to the previous post comes another promise and hot air sounds from local politicians who always get away with duping us. Been so busy with some other issues but I saw a report on the matter.The Gleaner reported that a senior legislator in the Portia Simpson Miller administration revealed yesterday that he has adopted a multi-ministerial approa […]

Jamaica Observer's Clovis illustrates the sentiments More international pressure is being applied on Jamaica to repeal laws believed to be infringing on the human rights of vulnerable groups including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered (LGBT) people.The latest round of calls for Jamaica to act came during today’s United Nations periodic review […]

You can sign HEREUPDATE - Orashia is currently in Morton Hall detention centre, this is the 4th time he has been detained! This is putting a huge strain on his mental & physical health. His fantastic legal team are working around the clock but the Home Office might try & issue yet more removal directions soon so please be ready to once again call the […]

So another case of teenagers in rebellious behaviour, experimentation or what as girls are said to be kissing and the photos miraculously making their way to social media. previous posts:Experimental Sex Again? from GLBTQ Jamaica (blogger)Early Sexual Initiation and Lack of Perceived Risk Put Youth at RiskThe issue is that with social media access so wide an […]

In April this year in a previous post Caribbean tourism must reflect changing demands ....... pink $$ anyone? I had raised the business side of LGBTQ person-hood as placed to our neighbours 90 miles to the north and the opportunities we might be missing in this regard, well we did not have to wait long as news comes that a mass wedding is coming in Cuba duri […]

Firstly thanks to my bredren Gary for calling my attention to it via phone as I caught the show some twenty minutes into it on April 27 but I gleaned enough for me to arrive at the title of this post. I do wish that when radio discussions planned these kinds of shows/topics that some basic research is done especially in this age of information as this is not […]

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Caribbean countries have been told that they would need to adopt a holistic approach in responding to and preventing violence against women and girls.Two senior United Nations officials who have visited four Caribbean countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Dominica –have also noted that violence against women i […]

noreply@blogger.com (GLBTQ Jamaica)

Additional Readings

The same cop who has factored in so many run-ins with the youngsters in the Shoemaker Gully (often described as a sewer by some activists) has delivered on a promise of his powerpoint presentation on a solution to the issue in New Kingston, problem is it is the same folks who abandoned the men (their predecessors) from the powerful cogs of LGBT/HIV that are in earshot of his plan.

This ugly business of LGBTQ homelessness and displacements or self imposed exile by persons has had several solutions put forth, problem is the non state actors in particular do not want to get their hands dirty as the more combative and political issues to do with buggery's decriminalization or repeal have risen to the level of importance more so than this. Let us also remember this is like the umpteenth meeting with the cops, some of the LGBT homeless persons and the advocacy structure.

Homeless MSM/Transgender persons tell their story via a documentary on Wicked Hype's site, faulty is the interviewer and the background noise but focus on the substance of the voices of the interviewed. Sad that the solutions that should be coming from the LGBT lobbyists are not there as they ought to and pay attention to the No One Cares statement, it is as if the agencies do not exist, the interviewer clearly tried to get to the support element out but it never came in terms of powerful monied LGBT lobby groups. Check out the reference to Amsterdam and the rebuff of the Prime Minister.

Radio program Everywoman on Nationwide Radio 90FM March 20th 2014 with Dr Karen Carpenter as stand-in host with a transgender activist and co-founder of Aphrodite's P.R.I.D.E Jamaica and a gender non conforming/lesbian guest as well on the matters of identity, sex reassignment surgery and transexuality.

So it would seem on the face of it, this ugly business of MSM homelessness especially in the business district of New Kingston has been with us for so long yet not a peep came from the members of the privileged clergy in Jamaica including the homo-negative ones who claim to love the sinner but hate the sin in any meaningful way to help or offer shelter. On December 9th the Jamaica Observer carried a story of a pastor who claimed to be hitting out at "Injustices" to homeless MSM, where was he all this time until now with the repeated headlines the men in New Kingston have made? albeit for the wrong reasons. Kimmo Thomas reported: Pastor lashes out at 'injustices' faced by gays

Days later the same paper in the print edition only carried the cartoon as done by its resident cartoonist Clovis on December 11, 2013 parodying Tiana Miller transgender spokesperson for the JFLAG We Are Jamaicans Campaign and another member of the homeless MSM in New Kingston

Here is the last video of Dwayne Jones aka Gully Queen inadvertently done by a television crew when they came across the homeless youths at an abandoned housing scheme in Western Jamaica, little did we know in death he would make such international headlines. GO HERE for the full video

The recent embarrassing situation at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life is examined along with JFLAG's own temporary displacement via an eviction notice related to the homeless MSM challenges and dithering on both agency's part. MORE also HERE

In response to numerous requests for more information on the defunct Safe House Pilot Project that was to address the growing numbers of displaced and homeless LGBTQ Youth in New Kingston in 2007/8/9, a review of the relevance of the project as a solution, the possible avoidance of present issues with some of its previous residents if it were kept open.

Our Homeless section gets prime time news attention once again, August was the last major eviction shown on this same station what is also damming is the comment made by the member of parliament where he says all the agencies contacted do not want to deal with it showing the clear avoidance of housing the men with proper re-socialization and diligence building interventions.

How many more like these are we to see?

Where is the promised shelter as was told to the community at a town hall meeting on November 7th 2012?

Unimpressed with the CVM TV show on MSM Homelessness
The September 6th appearance of representatives from The National Council of Drug Abuse and AIDSFREEWORLD's Maurice Tomlinson to address the recent public eviction of homeless MSMS from Cargill Avenue was at best damage control to another embarrassment regarding the poor response from the relevant LGBT agencies. JFLAG WAS NOT PRESENT AT THIS CVM TV LIVE @ SEVEN Program

The attempt to use old programmatic language by Maurice Tomlison to suggest MSM/Trans have no access to condoms while the CVM newscast itself showed the movers holding the condoms in their hands they found on the site and saying the men were practicing safer sex should be instructive to ALL in view

Dionne Jackson Miller on October 3 on TVJ's All Angles dealt with the issue of the homeless men following the long standing controversy, the standoff on September 21, 2012 and the public eviction of the men from Cargill Avenue on August 29th, a shelter was hinted to in that interview and indeed a town hall meeting with JFLAG present did give the impression a shelter would be ready but it was not to be as was scheduled for opening on December 1

old 2009 Clovis cartoon on the two Jamaicas syndrome that has held us back as a nation

Independence Day 2014 cartoon

As today is independence Day I have to wonder what are we actually celebrating as the real meaning of such has gone nationally speaking the season seems more like a festivalization for respective governments over the years more so than a time for introspection as a nation as to our achievements and the freedom from the shackles of slavery physically and mentally instead it feels like we have swapped colonialism for something else as one public commentator mentioned recently, the house slave is now running the plantation with no real change in the concept of divide and rule. The actual events are a joke and have come to be used by some to promote homo-negativity more so than unity.

The festival song competition for example in both categories hosted by the JCDC try as they may but have you heard any of the songs yet or the winning entries? It seems only to attract a small percentage of Jamaicans (barring low money to buy tickets) it does not feel nationalistic in nature, back in the 80s at least when I was growing up we all at home or if we had family dinner would watch Grand Gala on the television or watch the song competition now it isn't even streamed live anymore. See: Independence Skewed & Still No Justice at 52

As intersex people, we have to deal with a host of issues because our bodies lie between the socially-expected bodily norms of male and female. Our bodies are treated as disordered, as problems to be solved by the medical profession. Doctors and people on the street alike treat intersexuality as freakish and fascinating, both intriguing and repellent. Our b […]

Recently I spent several days in a public internet group for "gender critical" people, after a few intersex friends voiced some positive things about this line of thinking. Feminists who call themselves "gender critical" are a controversial bunch, but their critique of the term "cis gender" had caught the interest of some inter […]

Today, the Intersex & the City blog asks, "Is it impossible for intersex people to be cisgender because it is impossible in society to live completely as in intersex person with no male or female legal checkbox?"In my experience, what you find when speaking with intersex people about this is an interesting split based upon gender identity. Inte […]

A century ago, eugenics, the science of breeding "better" humans, was considered the "queen of the sciences." Then came the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews, LGBT+ people, people with disabilities, "Gypsies" and others were murdered by the Germans in the name of purifying the Aryan race. The first to be sent to the gas chamb […]

New policies for Olympic and other international athletes set an upper limit to the amount of testosterone considered "normal" for a woman, and require those women who have natural levels of T that are higher than this to have medical interventions to lower their levels. If the women are found to be intersex, these interventions include surgical re […]

Apparently 0.8% of American mothers report that they became pregnant as virgins.The likelihood that some of these mothers had in fact had classical penile-vaginal intercourse, but didn't wish to report it, is indicated by the fact that these self-proclaimed virgin mothers were twice as likely to have taken an abstinence pledge than were other mothers.Bu […]

If you are looking around for information about intersexuality, one of the first things you're likely to read is that "most intersex children are assigned female at birth." This is in fact false. In the U.S. today, according to the CDC, one in 125 children assigned male at birth is surgically modified to fit that binary sex status. The perc […]

A central issue that makes life hard for intersex people is invisibility. Most people are unaware of how common intersex individuals are, something I’ve often discussed on this blog. But there’s a larger setting in which the fact that sex is a spectrum gets erased, and that’s in descriptions of biology and the animal kingdom as a whole. One way this happe […]

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello)

This blog is a combination of posts from Gay Jamaica Watch and GLBTQJA on Blogger with Exclusives as well covering LGBTQIQ2S issues in Jamaica with a no holes barred look at advocacy, political, outreach, ethical & social issues. Some crisis interventions are also covered & carried out where resources are available

The promised buggery review (even with the botched JFLAG 100 day ultimatum) has not materialised instead a member of parliament makes snide remarks at a function on the issue then tries to do some damage control (see HERE and HERE for more or HERE from GAY JAMAICA WATCH to see this important post)

Damion Crawford State Minister in the ministry of tourism in a follow up interview on CVM TV’s Direct with host Garfield Burford on Wednesday March 13th tried to explain his recent comments at a function that was carried as a news item on the same television station on the promised Buggery Law Review by his boss Prime Minister Portia Simpson Prime Minister Miller who in the run up to the last general elections promised a review of the law along with a conscience vote on the matter. Mr. Crawford as extensively reported in a previous post has satirically suggested that no gay member of parliament is going to come forward and he doubted that the issue would be even raised in parliament.

Queen Ifrica says that her songs have been embraced by members of the homosexual community.Speaking in a video that has gone viral on social media, the Lioness On The Rise hitmaker says her music has been comforting to gay men who have been victims of rape or incest."I have worked extensively with people from the gay community since I did Daddy Don […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica – As Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) gets ready for its week of activities to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community starting Emancipation Day, speculations abound on social media about a possible gay pride parade in Jamaica.If this is the case, Minister of Justic […]

Leaders of a regional coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations sent a letter to CARICOM’s leadership, urging them not to fall prey to a regional panic in response to equal marriage. CariFLAGS likened calls in a 33,000+ signature evangelical petition to CARICOM that targets LGBT people to the Dominican Republic’s treatment of p […]

One has to be so careful out there even though the very slouchy change and tolerance of homosexuality in Jamaica as a discussion is still loaded with some abhorrence for anal sex and the belief that such act is too loaded with interaction with faecal matter is still real and can often lead to challenges in everyday life as persons feel justified with certain […]

More announcements or genuine work here by government given what played out at the review earlier this year?see:Gov't Makes International Commitment To Reduce Violence Against Women, GaysUN Pressure Mounts For Jamaica To Repeal Anti-Gay Laws, Improve LGBT EnvironmentNow we are told that Officers within the public sector are to commence human rights trai […]

also see: Despite opposition, EU Parliament votes for LGBTI rights/trans identity depathologization in gender equality strategy from sister blog GLBTQJA, I however came across this publication excerpted below sent to me via email.The Cotonou Agreement, the core of political and trade relations between the European Union and the group of African, Caribbean, a […]

Speaking at the Jamaica Constabulary Force diversity training workshop aka COMET, Community Empowerment Transformation Project (COMET II) at the Jewels Resort in Runaway Bay today Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry commented on some concerns she has on the interactions between police and marginalized groups. She said it is timely for the force to particip […]

Sometimes the things we do we have to pay the price eventually and such seems to be the case with this latest internal community matter gone public. The Star news carried the following:A self-proclaimed homosexual yesterday drew reference to lines from dancehall artiste Alkaline's 2013 hit 'My Life (Lowe Mi)' (video below) as he sought to just […]

Brian Williamson (September 4 1945 - June 9, 2004) was one of our first out Jamaican Gay rights activist besides another co-founder Larry Chang's public advocacy, Brian was a businessman, philanthropist, club owner/promoter and co-founder of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians and Gays, J-Flag. Also see: Larry Chang ........ a Reintroduction a post I had pu […]

Another pastor has sought to rile up his congregants in a church service where several heterosexual couples renewed their vows and as per usual the fear mongering as if granted gay marriage rights (as is inevitable after dealing with buggery first of course) is going to take away the rights presently enjoyed and protected by straight couples via the various […]

So not surprising as the sentiments were expressed in a radio interview and a call in show on radio some weeks ago during the aftermath of the Presidential visit and the euphoria following especially the LGBT hint and the hailing of Angeline Jackson activist from QCJ.acting President of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Al-Hajj Mekaeel MaknoonHowever I would l […]

Can it really?Love 101FM Twitter handle commentsThe matter of sexual orientation of prospective heterosexual couples was highlighted earlier today as what has been described as concerns raised by some members of the cloth in recent times where new marriages simply end in disaster due to the lack of disclosure or deception on the part of one or both persons i […]

The following appeared in the Gleaner today, for the most part I am in agreement but my concerns are in red in the piece.then Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Parliamentary Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller after the 2011 leadership debateby DUJON RUSSELLThe visit of Randy Berry, special envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transge […]

Firstly, congrats to the folks over in Ireland for doing the sane thing in that referendum on gay marriage, at least they have shown the way. However a referendum here on this? I am not so sure.So we have come to the shrubbery maze yet again and again we have been duped with the previously successful gay marriage refusal claim tied into law reform for the ol […]

It was bad enough that the displaced and homeless MSM/Transgender populations were left out of most of the homelessness week awareness activities as outlined in a previous post (Homelessness Awareness Week May 10 - 16 activities overlooks LGBT populations?) now we hear of more promises from politicians. It is not the first time we have heard concerns only wh […]

So it would seem as the activities and public relations rounds seems to suggest a generalization of homelessness with no reference in sight to MSM/Trans populations. Not that one is asking for special treatment for this group but the issues have been screaming for attention for some time now as continued clashes with other populations in the homeless belt pr […]

SOME people will tell you that their exes are their best friends, but there's a saying that if you can be friends with an ex, either you never loved them or you still do. Indeed, for some people, when there's a break-up and one partner says they can still be friends, it's the same as having a pet die and being told you can keep the body." […]

In a follow up to a previous post internal church discord has emerged since the accusation of sexual assault of a boy by a police officer attached to the Riverton Meadows Seventh Day Adventist Church.It is stories like this that makes the struggle for law reform with regards to the buggery law (repeal or decriminalization) and discrimination for LGBTQians di […]

This old cartoon from the Jamaica Observer's Clovis says it and then some about corruption in the forceOne of two St Catherine gay men blackmail cases involving the police was heard in a Spanish Town court two days ago. I am all too familiar with some of the details emerging in this matter as my own November 1996 matter where myself and three other co-a […]

So now that the US has gotten their act together legislatively it is now time for our friends in the EU and in a timely occurrence there has been a statement.also see from a local standpoint:There goes gay marriage paranoia again .No Buggery Law Removal says Justice Minister, Gay Marriage parachuted in yet againJamaican Gay Unions? Hanna Says Ja Not Ready Fo […]

I have not much to add to this letter I saw in the Gleaner today, I must also big up the sensible commentators who have been battling the uproar since the ruling with some sensible rebuttal, of note is Cliff Hughes of Nationwide while carrying out duties on his daytime show on Power106FM with good arguments.Download the 103 paged ruling HERE and see the Gay […]

In what has been surmised as a rape and robbery ring by a group of some three men in St Catherine has had some challenges for the police and citizens in residential areas such as Ensom City, Monticello, Avon Park and Eltham Acres/Meadows including the upscale Y.P. Seaton housing schemes and others as far west as Old Harbour heights within the last four to fi […]

Yeah! it has happened at last.The word “cisgender” to denote someone whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth, has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word is one of 500 new entries into the dictionary, alongside the word “twerk”, a dance move synonymous with singer Miley Cyrus. According to the Oxford English Diction […]

Yea this blog has touched this before but with new readers some subjects are worth revisiting. Sometimes a good reminder does not hurt as well to center us on basic matters.For most people, when it comes to sexuality, there are two options: gay or straight. As a matter of fact, for some, the only sexuality that matters is heterosexuality (straight), and ever […]

Scientific evidence shows that human sexual behaviour is naturally varied, and should not form a basis for discrimination, says a highly anticipated report from the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).also see: ASSAF REPORT ASSESSES CRIMINALISATION OF SEXUAL DIVERSITYThe report, launched at the Seventh South African AIDS Conference in Durban, South Af […]

In a landmark vote, the European Parliament has demanded to include LGBTI rights in a future EU gender equality strategy. The depatholization component is so critical and must be watched closely.The current strategy for equality between women and men runs out at the end of this year. The report voted on Tuesday June 9, is the Parliament’s input for the gende […]

When the Caitlyn Jenner matter first came to light and in the height of the euphoria Nationwide radio had a discussion on the issue with the present host of the show "Everywoman" Georgette Crawford who in essence made a mess of herself as a sociologist describing Caitlyn's journey and that of another panelist our own trans voice Satiba co-foun […]

So Time magazine has covered the work of Angeline Jackson of Quality Citizenship Jamaica, QCJ given the acknowledgement from President Obama during his visit to Jamaica in April 2015. The timing of this article could not have been more opportune as anti gay voices have long used the old 2006 article and still do up to a day ago on a recent radio show from th […]

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a new report, “Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity”, A/HRC/29/23, or HERE which includes detailed reference to intersex and other LGBTI persons. OII Australia warmly welcomes this report, which for the first time ca […]

As we continue to track this story from the UK some good news at least for now has come forth regarding Orashia, Jamaican Orashia Edwards is appealing rejected claim for asylum after tribunal alleged he was ‘experimenting’ and had been dishonest about his sexuality, this has been a concern for many years when I handled some cases at my time at JFLAG and othe […]

J. Lester FederNewly appointed U.S. LGBT rights envoy Randy Berry doesn’t see his primary job as weighing in in countries where LGBT rights are most embattled. Instead, he says he’s targeting “the vast set of countries in the middle” on the question of embracing LGBT rights as a human rights concern.“If we can do our part to move the center of the universe t […]

In a follow up to the previous post comes another promise and hot air sounds from local politicians who always get away with duping us. Been so busy with some other issues but I saw a report on the matter.The Gleaner reported that a senior legislator in the Portia Simpson Miller administration revealed yesterday that he has adopted a multi-ministerial approa […]

Jamaica Observer's Clovis illustrates the sentiments More international pressure is being applied on Jamaica to repeal laws believed to be infringing on the human rights of vulnerable groups including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered (LGBT) people.The latest round of calls for Jamaica to act came during today’s United Nations periodic review […]

You can sign HEREUPDATE - Orashia is currently in Morton Hall detention centre, this is the 4th time he has been detained! This is putting a huge strain on his mental & physical health. His fantastic legal team are working around the clock but the Home Office might try & issue yet more removal directions soon so please be ready to once again call the […]

So another case of teenagers in rebellious behaviour, experimentation or what as girls are said to be kissing and the photos miraculously making their way to social media. previous posts:Experimental Sex Again? from GLBTQ Jamaica (blogger)Early Sexual Initiation and Lack of Perceived Risk Put Youth at RiskThe issue is that with social media access so wide an […]

In April this year in a previous post Caribbean tourism must reflect changing demands ....... pink $$ anyone? I had raised the business side of LGBTQ person-hood as placed to our neighbours 90 miles to the north and the opportunities we might be missing in this regard, well we did not have to wait long as news comes that a mass wedding is coming in Cuba duri […]

Firstly thanks to my bredren Gary for calling my attention to it via phone as I caught the show some twenty minutes into it on April 27 but I gleaned enough for me to arrive at the title of this post. I do wish that when radio discussions planned these kinds of shows/topics that some basic research is done especially in this age of information as this is not […]

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Caribbean countries have been told that they would need to adopt a holistic approach in responding to and preventing violence against women and girls.Two senior United Nations officials who have visited four Caribbean countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Dominica –have also noted that violence against women i […]

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Who am I - Mr. H
Mr. H
Kingston, West Indies, Jamaica
I am a 39 y/old single Gay Jamaican previously involved in Interventions at JFLAG & HIV work at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life & still volunteers for other NGOs in similar veins. I'm concerned about the lack of free flow of information about The Jamaican Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered experiences hence my Blogs & Network pages playing my part in allowing expression & cross fertilization of ideas between the various groups.
Gay Jamaica Watch blog was started as Sunshine Cathedral Jamaica on 20/2/08 while The GLBTQJA blog was started as JFLAG on 8/5/08 both I have renamed to reflect my points of view and to encourage more conversations on LGBTQI issues from a Jamaican standpoint outside of the advocacy structure for solutions. Thanks for your support and words of encouragement & donations, Donate today safely via paypal, so I can continue this activity. All donations go to GLBTQ Jamaica for Research & Development, Blog continuity.
I can be reached at: lgbtevent@gmail.com or glbtqjamaica@live.com